Isis 'Less Than 10km from the Gates of Baghdad' Despite Coalition Air Strikes

Shi'ite volunteers who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against militants of Isis parade southwest of BaghdadReuters

Isis (now known as the Islamic State) are now less than 10km (6.3 miles) from Baghdad as clashes with the Iraqi army continue, according to the vicar of the only Anglican church in Iraq.

Fighting with the terror group is taking place on the outskirts of the Iraqi capital with Iraqi forces attempting to halt their advance on the city.

Conflicting reports have emerged of the proximity of the radical Islamist group to Iraq's economic and political centre.

Fighting has taken place in the key strategic town of Amariya al-Falluja, 40km (25 miles) west of Baghdad but Canon Andrew White, the vicar of Iraq's only Anglican church, has claimed that the militants are now less than 10km (6.3 miles) from the capital.

"The Islamic State are on the verge of entering Baghdad. The Islamic State are now within 10km of entering Baghdad. Over a 1,000 Iraqi troops were killed by them yesterday, things are so bad.

"As I said all the military air strikes are doing nothing. If we ever needed your prayer it is now," he said.

"President Obama is saying that he overestimated the ability of the Iraqi Army. It is so clear they have no ability. A hard thing to say but it's true."

An organisation supporting the work of White, the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, has claimed that the group are even closer to Baghdad - less than 2km away.

"The Islamic State are now less than 2km away from entering Baghdad. They said it could never happen and now it almost has. Obama says he overestimated what the Iraqi Army could do. Well you only need to be hear [sic] a very short while to know they can do very very little," the statement read.

The IS advance on the city comes despite the US-led coalition's air strike campaign on the group's positions across Iraq, most recently in Anbar province 80km from Baghdad.

US President Barack Obama has conceded that American intelligence did not take the growing threat from the group seriously enough.

"Well I think, our head of the intelligence community, Jim Clapper, has acknowledged that I think they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria," he said in a televised interview.

The United States has conducted over 200 air strikes on the group's positions in Iraq since August 2014, while Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar have joined or supported the strikes in Syria.